The present invention relates to a film developing device and, more particularly, to an X-ray film developing device for industrial application in medical and technological fields.
Usually, in developing undeveloped X-ray film (hereafter called simply "film"), the film is removed from a package sealing the film therein by groping in the dark room, then sequentially submerged in a developing solution, first washing water, a fixing solution and second washing water, and shuffled by hand by so called snap actions or shuffling operations while submerged in these solutions and water. If any of these solutions have deteriorated, an operator usually makes adjustments according to experience and sixth sense. However, when developing by hand, considerable time, labor and experienced skill are required. In consideration of the above-mentioned drawback, recent miscellaneous film developing devices eliminating man power as much as possible have been proposed.
Up to the present, patent application No. Showa 63(1988)-173191 is publicly laid open as an example of such a proposed film developing device. This film developing device is provided with a plurality of vessels installed in a dark chamber, and the vessels are filled with developing solution, fixing solution and washing water and each vessel has an opening opened upwardly and the device is provided with a plurality of nip rollers. When developing the film, the film is first removed from the sealed package by groping in the dark chamber, then clipped in a plurality of the nip rollers and successively and horizontally fed in the processing solutions such as developing or fixing solutions at a constant speed.
When the processing solutions deteriorate, the solutions are disposed of as they are. When deteriorated solutions are reused, the developing time and fixing time are usually determined according to the operator's experience and sixth sense in accordance to the stage of deterioration of the processing solutions.
Further, when drying washed film, the film is stripped away from the drops of water while passing through a pair of rollers that contact each other, then discharged toward the outside, or by feeding hot air toward the vicinity of the rollers, the film is stripped away from drops of water and dried, then the hot air is discharged from the film ejection port.
However, in such conventional film developing devices, as the film is clipped between the nip rollers, gelatin membrane coated on the surface of the film is injured, and since the time of film contact with the developing and fixing solutions is too short, it is always necessary to apply fresh developing and fixing solutions to the film. This agitating operation in processing solutions is cumbersome.
Furthermore, as the film is handled by groping in the dark chamber, it is unclear whether the film is correctly clipped by the pair of rollers, and occasionally the film is injured or contaminated by being dropped, and considerable time and labor are required in order to cautiously handle and process the film by hand.
As the upper openings of vessels are usually opened in the dark chamber and developing and fixing solutions are heated in order to process the film at an adequate temperature, the vapors generated from the solutions fill the dark chamber. The vaporized drips adhere around the inner wall of the dark chamber, contaminating the film that comes in contact with vaporized drips in the developing process, and also oxidizing and contaminating the developing and fixing solutions by contact with the air in the dark chamber.
When lifting the film above the vessels, as the processing solutions adhering to the film are also transferred into the next vessel, processing solutions in the vessels are apt to decrease and the solution in the next vessel also becomes contaminated.
Furthermore, as the film is simultaneously stripped from the drops of water between a pair of rollers, imperfect stripping and drying are apt to occur, and as hot air for drying the film is discharged outwardly after the film is heated as it is, the film is inefficiently and insufficiently dried.
Furthermore, as the film is force-fed in the processing solutions at a constant speed, hand-shuffling is impossible, and desired developing effects are unattainable. Also, as the contaminated solutions are disposed of as they are, the amount of processing solutions consumed becomes much larger, and considerable amounts are rendered futile. In addition, as the developing time and the film processing condition in the processing solution are sometimes determined by experience according to the qualitative change (deterioration) of the processing solution, selecting the best processing time is difficult, and the film developing results are apt to be different according to the degree of the operator's experience.
The first object of the present invention is to provide a film developing device enabling the undeveloped X-ray film to be easily developed in the preferred best condition by providing a plural of the vessels filled with specified processing solutions, means for setting a processing condition corresponding to the qualitative state of the processing solution, and another means for processing and transferring the film, by presetting the above-mentioned processing condition and by submerging the film in each of the vessels, and further by shuffling the film in each of the vessels.
The second object of the present invention is to provide a film developing device enabling X-ray film to be clipped by a plurality of film holding means in a dark chamber, to detect and display the film clipped securely in the film holding means, and to confirm whether the film is correctly clipped by the holding means or not, by providing a guide plate for introducing the film, a plurality of the film holding means and a sensor for detecting the condition in which the film is held in the device and by letting the film be clipped in the holding means by only one touch of the film.
The third object of the present invention is to provide a film developing device enabling the X-ray film to prevent deterioration due to the processing solutions, and also to prevent the contamination of the solutions, by simultaneously opening vessel covers which usually and respectively close the upper openings of the vessels, only in the developing operation by activating the cover opening means.
The fourth object of the present invention is to provide a film developing device enabling the X-ray film to be dried effectively in a short time by providing two pairs of rollers revolving in the higher peripheral speed than the transferring speed of the film and drying means for discharging hot air toward the discharging port of the device together with the dried film.
The fifth object of the invention is provided a film developing device enabling automatic control of the film processing and transferring means in accordance with specified processing conditions directed by an operator or in accordance with the processing condition in the solutions corresponding to the state of deterioration of the processing solutions, to perform the identical shuffling operation as that performed during hand developing, and to select easily the appropriate developing operation, by providing means for transferring and processing the X-ray film and one more means for controlling the above-mentioned means, in the device.
The sixth object of the present invention is to provide a film developing device which prevents contamination of the film by the processing solutions, prevents deterioration of the processing solutions themselves, minimizes the consumption of processing solutions by wiping away the adhered drops on the film with a pair of wipers while lifting the film from each of the vessels, and prevents deterioration of the processing solution filled in the next vessel, by providing opening means for opening a pair of wipers individually and normally being closed, only during the developing process.